Bitcoin Forum

Hi all,

Can someone kindly advise? I am at a standstill and would really appreciate some guidance with it?

My uncle recently passed away from cancer and had invested in crypto currency. We were very close over the last few years and his wishes were for me to have his collection after he died. He was of sound mind. We discussed it regularly. I cared for him over the last years. He had no children of his own. We last spoke while he was in hospital and he brought up the crypto and told me to get the details and i was still to access it and carry on with it.  I have an audio of this last discussion between himself and me.

When he did pass away, i was able to collect his belongings etc and we have gathered so much information of websites, passwords and keys etc. I do remember he came to my house to show me how to gain access to one of the websites and i know he had a phone and tablet and a nano key when he visited (which i retrieved) but the phone he used is broken and had a protected image security that we cant work out. I do have the secret codes he told me about but i think I am having trouble accessing the 2FA.  He would be gutted if this know this would be destroyed.
Im truthfully not sure what to do.

Many thanks in advance

Sorry for your loss.

There are a couple of things that you will need to clarify for us here. When you say "nano key" do you mean a Ledger Nano hardware wallet? What are the format of these "secret codes" you have retrieved? (Obviously don't reveal the actual codes themselves!) Are they a list of words, in which case they are a seed phrase? Are they a long string of letters and numbers, in which case they could be private keys or they could be 2FA back up codes. If they are a string of characters, how long is the string and what is the first character?

Are all the coins you are trying to access on one or more online accounts? Were there any coins in a wallet app on his phone, wallet software on his computer, or perhaps in a hardware wallet?

Hi

Thank you for getting back to me. I really appreciate it. I do have a hardwear wallet, yes. My friend confirmed that for me. The secret codes ( there was a post-it with the name of the website name and 16 letters and another off 16 made up of numbers and letters for another site too).  The are on two different accounts, i think. I remember once he showed me a break down down of letters and numbers (values maybe ?) looking back when he was trying to show me how to sign in etc.
I also have a card with a list of words in a row. They are pretty random, being onest put handwritten very clearly.

Hi I am sorry to hear about your Uncle

First only trust Legendary or higher people on here with working with you on retrieval of crypto. If some of his collection was of the physical nature such as collectables
you can seek some advise from MinerJones in the bitcion collectables section.  Honest guy with a long history here, he can also point you to people who can answer every question you have with retrieving currency. you can tell him I sent you if needed, there is a great group that hangs out in the collectable thread.   

This is what will eventually happen. Sooner or later all crypto funds will be lost/inaccessible - given enough time. If he had kept his funds in stocks or just a plain old bankaccount (or even gold), you would have now had access to the funds.

The lesson here - if you are about to die, sell your crypto...

The Ledger Nano hardware wallet will need a PIN to unlock it. This will be a number between 4 and 8 digits. Did your uncle leave you this? Don't try guessing blindly as three wrong guesses will reset the device. If you don't have a PIN, you might still be able to access the wallet using the seed phrase he has left you (see below).

These are most likely 2FA recovery keys for the associated accounts. You can download an open source 2FA app such as Aegis and import these codes to create the 2FA codes you need to unlock his accounts.

This is what is known as a seed phrase or mnemonic phrase. It would be 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 words long. Make sure you don't tell anyone these words or enter them in to any website, ever. They encode an entire wallet, which might be the same wallet that is on the Ledger Nano hardware wallet you have been left. You can import these words in to another wallet (most securely another hardware wallet) to recover the coins within.

This may be all you actually need. Is it a list of 12 or 24 words? (Don't tell anyone those words!!)
Are those words all present in the list from https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt ?
If it's so it's the seed words and they are all you need to access the wallet.


Unfortunately I don't understand what's that. I may be completely wrong, but it may be related to even older models of hardware wallet.
Can you also tell what make (Trezor, Ledger, ...) and model (One, T, Nano S, Nano X) is the hardware wallet? Keep in mind that I wrote some of the current makes and models as examples, yours may be not in this list.

Hi there.  Thank you for your advise.  I wll head to that section now and try to find  MinerJones.

these guys here had some good advise too make sure to thank them ! 

1 - Do not respond to people who DM you with help. I'm sure you already have a dozen helpful scammers in your inbox.
2 - Do not share any passwords or full strings of characters with anyone - First few characters and total number of characters should be enough
3 -  Takew your time, small mistakes early can be costly

Secondly I would do a bit of cursory research yourself as well. It will help unmuddy the waters as you receive advice, and can ensure no one just talks you into getting scammed. I hate to say it but trust no one, you don't have the experience here to do so safely. Sounds harsh but rank can't for sure determine safety.

---

Moving on You may very well have access to several different coins - I don't know if your uncle mentioned all of his investments or not. This can complicate things a little bit, not overly but just know not all crytpo is Bitcoin.

When you mention websites it sounds like there may have been some exchange accounts involved - This can be somewhat problematic for a few reasons, mainly you are not the actual account holder and this could lead to funds being locked. What websites are on your list?

The nice thing about getting around the 2fa, is that for any wallets your uncle had personally the seed phrases will allow you to access it in the long run. Google wallet recovery and watch some Youtube videos. This is a good idea really for all pieces of websites, hardware and information you have gathered so far.

---

dependant on your country you may also be able to find someone face to face localish that can help you out.

---

Feel free to PM me if you have some other questions but again excercise extreme caution.

Brother, I am very sorry to hear about your uncle.
But I can say for sure that you can solve your  accessing problem with the personal codes you took from your uncle...

My sincere condolences to your loss. With regards to your concern, definitely listen to the pros here the legendary users. The higher the rank here the more experienced they are and more trustworthy. Simply means they have years of experience in this forum and is more likely to give you sound advise. If he gave you the seed phrases and all the other codes and stuff then you should be able to access his wallet. If it is a website, maybe his 2FA devices you might have so as to properly authenticate. He should have given everything to you as preparation so be patient and contact the pros here. They will help.

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all these helpful replies.  It is a definitely challenging stuff but i don't think it's impossible.

I guess the "details" (at the bold part) are keys that transfer ownership of the crypto to you?

I think it's better to get help from the police, and probably his sblings/family. They could  help you search his personal stuff more throughly considering you said you recorded his last audio conversation with you when he transfered ownership of his assets to you, right? That should encourage them to help, if it's good enough.
I think it's better they give you the right to search other private places your uncle didn't authorize you to search, where he may have stored duplicate of secret keys, codes, passwords, etc to his assets.

Not a good idea to give you idea for recovering the keys to the assets without having the right people go through the evidences you have that proves he  transferred the stuff to you.

I'm just really struggling. Fortunately i have the Brittrex secret log in key and i think i also have the 2FA codes too.  I searched paperwork and thankfully found them.  Can i still access the account?

Can someone please guide me with a step by step so i can try and access the accounts?

Thank you all

 :)

If they kept the credentials to access the wallet then it will not become one of the many lost coins, also why would we choose gold or stocks? Does it give a 900% return in just a year? I don't think so, not even in the lifetime of your son or daughter will banks, stocks or gold will be able to replicate what bitcoin has done in a decade.

It depends on the market situation or “instincts” whether to sell or hold it. This is why I store my private keys, passwords, 2FAs, etc., in a “sacred notebook” and keeping it somewhere safe. My family are the only ones that I trust, so when the time comes, I am about to tell them the “keys to the kingdom” and I’ll just tell them to be self-resourceful by going to Youtube and search for some “how-to” videos or such, or even create an account here on Bitcointalk and ask questions.

You will need at least three things to access the Bittrex account - the email address associated with the account, the account password, and the 2FA code. You may also need access to the email account.

The first thing to do is to restore the 2FA secret code in to a 2FA app. I would recommend an open source app such as Aegis. Download it, hit add account, select "Enter manually", and type your 16 character secret code in to the "Secret" field.

Then go to Bittrex and try to log in with your uncle's email address and password. Supply the 2FA code when asked. Since you will be logging in from a new IP, they may also send an email to the associated email address for confirmation, which you will need to be able to access.

I would NOT do anything or be in a hurry, as people have pointed out above, you don't want to make a mistake and destroy/lose a lot of money. You have been given some excellent advice above, I would re-read those posts many times and do your own research on the terms they have mentioned, look up each one in a search engine to understand what is 2FA, what is a hardware wallet, read about the specific hardware wallet you have, and so on. When you have questions, search this forum for the answers or make new questions.  

I would absolutely NOT recommend going to the police or to the family/friends of your uncle, you have no idea what the police are going to do, you don't know that the friends/family of your uncle are trustworthy or if they just want to take the money for themselves, or if they even know anything about cryptocurrency. Obviously he confided in you for a reason, because he trusted you.

Someone mentioned finding someone local to help you, I think that is way too risky because they will pretend to be nice and helpful but will want to steal the money.

Also don't answer all the random PMs you are getting, because they are probably scammers even though they seem nice and polished.

Don't mention to anyone in-person, any friends/family, etc, of what was left to you, as it is a risk.

If someone refers you to someone trustworthy online who can give advice, vet them yourself, don't just go with someone's recommendation.

I sincerely hope that you’re going to find a way to unlock this wallet and recover what’s stored in it. And by the way, I think you should do a research and understand how cryptocurrency works because the explanation you have made here is not really clear. And you also have to be careful with every information that has to do with the wallet so that you don’t end up letting it get into the wrong hands, because when it does you’re going to be losing everything that is stored in the wallet.

The list of words you said are written down on a card, I believe that’s the seed, you have to be careful with it because that’s what you’re going to use in recovering the coins that are stored in that.

Hi all.

Thank you all for your kind advise and support.  This has been a crazy few weeks trying to make sense of all of all of this.
My husband and i sat last night and went thorough all the information we do have infront of us.  We have been researching all this crypto world intensively. This is what we know so far -

We have clear login details and passwords to exchanges but the 2fa is creating a problem.  The phone he used is broken.  My question would be  can we reset the 2FA without the broken phone altogether via his Google account which we also have the sign in details for?

We have seed codes for two exchanges and list of phrases (12 and 24 phrases). Do i have to contact the companies themselves to remove it or reset it or do i have enough details i can do this myself with the info that i have here in of infront now?

All these details were sealed in a metal tin from his home.

I have already answered all these questions.

Since you have the 16 character 2FA back up codes, you should simply download an open source 2FA app such as Aegis and import the back up codes in to that app. It will then start generating the 6 digit 2FA codes you need to access his accounts. There is no way to recover a Google Authenticator database simply from a Google account unless he has exported a full back up of his 2FA app, which it doesn't sound like he has done.

The 12 and 24 word phrases are to separate wallets and are nothing to do with his exchange accounts. Having the username and password, as well as the recovered 2FA code as I explained above, is enough to access his accounts.

At some point after you have sorted out accessing the exchange accounts you will want to import the 12 and 24 word seed phrases to a wallet to check for funds on them too. The easiest way to do this safely would be via a hardware wallet.

It looks like he thought of everything.

You're struggling not because he messed up or anything. You're just new to this, so don't panic and make sure you do everything the slow and safe way.
With crypto there's often no turning back. If you send some private keys to an employee at an exchange, thinking they're some recovery passes, you'll probably lose a lot of money.

It's possible to request a 2fa reset at some sites, but expect them to ask for full KYC, a photo of you and so on. If they find out the account owner is dead they could lock the account, so it's better if you don't start sending tickets anywhere, trying to explain the situation if you don't have to.

Hi again

Please forgive me bothering you you all again.  You have all been so kind in helping me.

I have downloaded Aegis as advised and input the secret code and generated the numbers and tried to input the details as advised into the website but i get the messgae 'the two factor authenticator code you supplied is incorrect. please check the clock on your authenticator devise to verify that is in sync'.  Im so frustrated because if feel this should be a simple thing but not for me lol

Try doing as it says.

2FA codes work by combining the secret code you inserted with the current time. If the time is incorrect, then you will generate the wrong code. Even being just a few seconds off can be enough to make the code incorrect. Make sure the device with Aegis on it is set to automatically detect the correct time and has an internet connection. Also check obviously that you are using the correct code for the correct account, you entered it correctly, and you didn't change any of the other settings in Aegis (specifically that you didn't change from SHA1, since this is what Google Authentication uses).

Hi again,

Thanks for getting back in touch - again. We have tried this again as advised but i im still getting the same result.  Im really close to just calling it a day on all of this.  Its such a shame too. I have absolutely no idea how to get through this now. Im guessing this should be a straight forward process for everyone else lol

You could try downloading Google Authenticator and inputing the secret codes in to that just to be sure, but it will generate the exact same 6 digit codes as Aegis does unless you've made a mistake somewhere along the line.

If you are unable to solve the 2FA issue (although I would try a bit longer first), then the alternative is to ask the exchange to release the coins to you. If your uncle had a verified account and you can provide proof of death as well as proof that you were named as his heir and proof of your own identity, then they may allow you access to his coins. Alternatively, they may not accept your explanation and lock his account, so only try this as a last resort.

Still trying at this end.  One of the codes says Brittrex Secret Code with 16 letters. Im a little wary that these attempted logins looks a little weird.

Oeleo has been a great help help to you :)  dont forget you can also watch some videos at youtube.  Bank accounts are set up where executor of an estate can access accounts with proof that was given from a court. I would think some of these crypto accounts would have the same thing you just have to provide proof you are now the owner of accounts and or are the executor of the estate. Then they would send you a link to create a new password.   I could be 100% wrong but worth checking into

Can anyone recommend any good YouTube sites or info i could research?  I am soo thanksful for everyones help. I truly am. 

As it was said, 16 digit secret key is a 2fa code for your authenticator.
You can google this and come up with an answer.


If you have a 2fa recovery key you can install a new authenticator on your phone and there will be an option for setting up with a key or qr code.

Also, the authenticator is connected to the owner's google account. Look for google login and password, that could allow you to recover the authenticator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUbFtpf-D4

Some piece of advice that you shouldnt entertain or ignore into those possible PM's that you might get as of this moment because those are just scammers who are trying to lure you in to give those details
as if theyre tending to help but they arent doing that for nothing so be careful. Would you mind on what website you are trying to say here about losing its 2fa since the mobile phone
is broken then the option you would need to do is to contact that specific site and as long you do know the accounts credentials which it might be asked later on
for some verification then this wont be a problem.

Learn how to claim everything yourself.  You don't need to provide anyone with any actual information about your coins.  They don't need to see addresses or private keys in order to help you.  Go slowly.  Don't make mistakes.  If you do need help, do not use the real information.  95% of the people that will reach out trying to help you are probably going to try and steal from you.  Know this and be safe.  Once you've claimed everything you possibly can and feel like you're done, then you can feel free to have a little trust and provide some information to see if there's anything you missed, but even then keep your private keys private.